AI Impact Summit exhibition relocated to Bharat Mandapam over security concerns

The “Innovation Festival” was originally scheduled to run from February 15 to 20 at Central Park and is one of several events planned alongside the main summit.

A public exhibition tied to the upcoming global “AI Impact Summit”, scheduled in Delhi in February, has been relocated from Central Park in Connaught Place to Bharat Mandapam due to “security” and “logistical assessments”, an official from the IT ministry said Wednesday.

More than 100 global CEOs and around 15 heads of state have confirmed their participation so far, MeitY officials said earlier. (HT PHOTO)

The “Innovation Festival” was originally scheduled to run from February 15 to 20 at Central Park, and is one of several events planned alongside the main summit. It is planned as a public engagement space with interactive stalls and demonstrations by global AI firms. It is a key side event of the main AI Impact Summit, which the Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) is hosting.

MeitY had said last month that it was expecting “significant public footfall” at the festival.

However, the plans have now been revised. “We have been advised on security and logistics considerations to move to a more manageable venue and so much of what was intended will be at the main venue,” a senior official within the IT ministry told HT, confirming that the festival’s activities will be folded in part into the broader summit programming at Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan.

Delhi Police officers aware of the matter said that they were informed by MeitY officials – during a meeting on Wednesday – that the events that were to be held in the Central Park in Connaught Place have been moved to Bharat Mandapam. An officer, who asked not to be identified, said, “There was no written or verbal communication to the ministry sharing concerns about logistics or crowd control issues from the police.”

HT reached out to the implementation partner for the event – Teamwork Arts – but did not receive a response.

The AI Impact Summit is poised to be one of the largest global gatherings on artificial intelligence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the event on February 19 and host a CEOs’ roundtable. A gala dinner for participating heads of state is planned for February 18.

This summit is the fourth in a series of global AI meetings, following gatherings in the UK, South Korea, and France. Officials anticipate over 150,000 in-person attendees and more than 300 side events throughout the summit week.

More than 100 global CEOs and around 15 heads of state have confirmed their participation so far, MeitY officials said earlier. Confirmed attendees include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, Cisco president Jeetu Patel and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, among others. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also “most likely” to attend, officials had said, while discussions are ongoing with senior executives from Meta and Microsoft.

Political leaders expected include French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. Chinese officials have been invited, though their participation is unconfirmed.

In the lead-up to the summit, PM Modi earlier this month held a closed-door roundtable with a dozen Indian AI startups selected under the India AI Mission to build indigenous, sovereign AI models. According to participants, Modi urged companies to project an “Indian vision” at the AI Impact Summit, emphasising ethical, transparent and inclusive AI systems that reflect India’s linguistic and social diversity.

Outcomes from the summit are expected to include a possible leadership declaration, along with more than a dozen “specific and tangible deliverables” focused on improving access to AI resources, supporting developing countries and promoting responsible AI adoption globally.

Beyond the main plenary sessions, the summit week will feature a wide range of parallel events and thematic programmes. These include an AI Impact Expo, which will showcase applications and deployments of AI across sectors, as well as multiple AI sessions comprising keynotes, panel discussions and closed-door roundtables involving global technology leaders, policymakers and experts.

The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Council is scheduled to meet on February 20 on the sidelines of the summit, marking a key multilateral engagement during the final day. Officials have said the summit will also produce a series of “knowledge products”, including a Global Tech Leaders’ Vision Document, an International AI Safety Report led by AI researcher Yoshua Bengio, and multiple casebooks examining the real-world impact of AI in sectors such as health, education, agriculture, energy and gender empowerment.

Three flagship global challenges, AI for All, AI by Her, and YUVAi, are also being held as part of the summit, aimed at promoting inclusive innovation, women-led AI development and youth participation. According to MeitY officials, these challenges have collectively attracted thousands of applications from over 130 countries, including significant participation from the Global South.

Leading up to the Summit, there have been over 340 pre-Summit events organised by big tech companies, non-profit organisations and think tanks in partnership with MeitY.